An offshoot of al-Qaida now dominates northern Mali, which fell into rebel hands in March, regional security sources said Saturday as authorities struggled to assert control in the capital Bamako.

"Today it is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb which occupies a dominant position in the three areas of northern Mali thanks to its alliance with the Islamic Ansar Dine group and the influx of Tunisian, Libyan and Moroccan fighters," a Mauritanian source told Agence France Presse.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who says he masterminded the worst attacks on U.S. soil "from A to Z," has dedicated his life to plotting against the West.

Mohammed and four co-accused were in court Saturday to be arraigned, clearing the way for a long-delayed, high-profile trial of the men charged with plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.

At least 50 people have died as a result of heavy rains lashing Kenya since March, the country's Red Cross said Saturday.

In the latest incident on Friday night, seven people drowned about 20 kilometers southwest of Nairobi as rains swept the capital and its surrounding region, it said.

Syria has freed 265 detainees "involved" in the popular uprising against President Bashar Assad, "but who do not have blood on their hands," the state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

Releasing detainees is a requisite of the six-point peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan last month, as is the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on April 12 but has suffered violations ever since.

The self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and four co-accused appeared in a Guantanamo Bay court Saturday to be arraigned, all facing the death penalty if convicted.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants -- being seen in public for the first time in three years -- were to be formally charged with planning and executing the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed 2,976 people in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

A lawyer for Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam has called on the International Criminal Court to disqualify chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Campo from the case, alleging possible bias, the ICC said Saturday.

The submission made Thursday was published on the website of the ICC, which is in a tussle with the new Libyan authorities holding Seif al-Islam over the right to try him.

A brother and sister were believed to have carried out suicide bombings in Russia's Dagestan that killed at least 13 people and injured more than a hundred, the regional president said Saturday.

"The names of the suicide bombers have been preliminarily established. They are the brother and sister Rizvan and Muslimat Aliyev," Magomedsalam Magomedov told the parliament, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.

The Philadelphia 76ers rallied to beat the top-seeded Chicago Bulls 79-74 on Friday and gain a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round NBA playoff series.

The battered Bulls, already without reigning league Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose, suffered another injury blow as French center Joakim Noah hurt his ankle in the third quarter of the defeat.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is confident Robin van Persie will remain at the club after a prolific season that has seen the Dutch striker crowned Footballer of the Year.

Van Persie declared he would "always be a Gunner" on Thursday after collecting his latest honor from the Footballer Writers' Association at a London awards ceremony.

Vladimir Putin supporters unveiled plans on Saturday to draw more than 50,000 people onto the streets of Moscow in a show of force ahead of the strongman's inauguration to a third presidential term.

Russia's current prime minister will take back the Kremlin seat he already held from 2000-2008 during a swearing-in ceremony on Monday that follows his thumping March 4 election win against only token opposition.